IMPORTANCE OF COMMON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
How do common formative assessments help teachers meet the needs of all learners?
“Because the same assessment can be used both formatively and summatively, terms formative and summative make much more sense as descriptions of the function that assessment data serve, rather than of the assessment instruments themselves.”
Black & Wiliam, 1996
Formative Assessments
“Formal and informal processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning”
Chappius, 2009
Summative Assessments
“Assessments that provide evidence of student achievement for the purpose of making a judgment about student competence or program effectiveness”
Chappius, 2009
For the purposes of this module, CFA is viewed as a collective partnership between colleagues, meaning that…
Chappius et al. (2009) indicated that summative assessment is made in comparison to a standard and therefore is represented through a rating—symbol, number or letter grade.
The distinction between formative and summative assessment is important in order to be sure that formative assessment practices are valued as processes to increase student achievement. Therefore formative assessments must: be aligned to content standards which are expectations for learning; be aligned to what has been or will be taught; contain enough detail so teachers can gain considerable knowledge about student learning; timely in order to take action with students; and provide results that students and teachers both take action on. Common formative assessment at the classroom level is a systematic and cyclical process designed to provide timely teacher/student feedback on curricula and student learning to improve both instructional practices and academic achievement.